Fight or Flight
by Sydney the Sydster
Summary: They're being hunted, hunted like dogs, and there's nothing they can do about it. As anti-mutant sentiments begin to start gaining appeal, and mutants everywhere begin to vanish, the X-men are forced to try to just simply get by. / Pseudo season five fic.


A pseudo season five fic, this story takes place four months after the Apocalypse deal. All the characters featured in the story are characters that have been included in the comics or TV shows before. No OCs, besides the background characters that don't do much. If you have any suggestions for characters be included later on, send them my way but, until then, enjoy the story. c:

**DISCLAIMER:** None of the characters featured here are mine. I own nothing.

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><p><em>She knew this would happen. She had foreseen it, years ago, when her abilities were first developing. This thought, this prediction, had terrified her. It had tormented her nightmares for years. But, she wasn't a little girl anymore, she wasn't a child seeing the unknown for the first time. She was a woman now, a grown woman who had raised a child of her own, had loved, and had seen many things. She was not scared of the inevitable anymore. She had accepted it, accepted it all, and, because of this, had expected this.<em>

_She left behind her precise instructions, instructions for her lover to follow, and then, hidden instructions for adopted daughter to follow once she found them. She had not spoken to either of these women in months but, she knew, in her heart, that they would follow the instructions to a t. They had that much faith in her, they always had._

_She was on her porch when they came for her. She may have been blind but, she wanted them all to know she had seen them coming to the very end. It was her way of winning._

_She didn't cry, or beg for mercy, and she was sure her lover and child would both be proud of her for that, even if they would never admit it. _

_They, the minions following orders, (_kill all of them_), left her body in the sunroom of her Louisiana home. They left her there for her lover to find her, days later. Her lover did not weep, she knew this much._

_She knew her lover found the note for her, as well, and left the follow them as instructed. She knew this because she had faith in her._

_A new tombstone was found behind her house, nearly a month later. It was a crude stone with an even cruder inscription carved into it._

'IRENE ADLER'

'FRIEND . MOTHER . LOVER'

'DESTINY'

_It was unfortunate no one thought to tell her child._

- break – break -

"And, in recent news, Senator Kelly has been lobbying for an American anti-mutant stance. He's backed by many Americans and several political groups, such as the Friends of Humanity, a self proclaimed human 'protection' group. We were lucky enough to interview their founder, Graydon Creed, earlier today and Mister Creed-"

"Rogue, please! Somezing happy! I don't vant my last day of freedom to be spent hearing depressing zhings!"

"Ah, cram it, elf."

Grinning, Kurt Wagner, one blue mutant and student of Xavier's Academy for the Gifted, plopped down next to his adoptive sister, Rogue, at a kitchen table. "Seriously, zough." Both teenagers were mutants, though their mutations were vastly different from each other. It was strange seeing the two interact so easily, especially when not a year ago they barely talked at all. But, it was nice, for them to finally feel as if they had family to rely on. Really nice, for both of them.

"Whatever," Rolling her eyes, the older, southern girl switched the power button on the remote, opting to turn the TV off instead of changing the channel. "Ah can't believe they're still sayin' we're bad, though. After we saved their lives and everythin'." (Said saving lives had taken place about four months ago, when the whole Apocalypse deal went down. All the students were still pretty proud of that accomplishment.) The German teen beside her shrugged, shoveling a spoonful of cereal into his mouth as he did so.

"Vhat can I say? Ve're different, zerefor some people vill alvays fear and hate us."

"Whatcha guys talking about?"

Glancing sideways, Kurt blinked at the appearance of a new girl. Megan Gwynn had just recently joined the Institute and was their newest recruit. Professor Xavier had been to expand the school lately, adding more and more students in but, despite their rise in numbers, Megan was the only one who was really new. Tabith Smith and Danielle Morningstar, their other new recruits, were all old friends of the mutant students and, in Tabitha's case, had been students before, too.

So, Megan was a new face but, not an unwelcome one. She, much like Kurt, had a physical mutation, in her case, insect like wings that could not retract. The Professor was working on an image inducer for her but, the girl actually seemed to enjoy her mutation. Not that Kurt blamed her, butterfly wings were much nicer then blue fur and fangs.

"Morning Megan!" Waving, Kurt turned back to his cereal, listening idly as Rogue went on to explain. "Those stupid mutant haters. They've got 'human protection' groups now an' everythin'."

"Youch. That doesn't sound too pleasant."

"That's what I'm bettin' on."

Grabbing a piece of toast, the Welsh teen went to join her fellow mutants at the table, "Still, it shouldn't be too bad, I mean, not everyone feels that way, right?"

"Er..."

"...W-well, our parents have to like us, right?"

"Ja. _Sure_."

Not noting the sarcasm, the pink haired girl beamed, biting into her toast. "So! Are you guys excited for school tomorrow?"

Megan never got her answer, for, right as Kurt and Rogue went to answer, the rest of Xavier's students began to file in, filling the kitchen up. The two oldest students, Jean and Scott, were chatting amongst themselves, glancing occasionally to the hallway as they did so. Behind them were Kitty, Danielle, Amara, and Tabitha, who were more then likely planning a trip to the mall later on. Finally, even further back, were the New Mutant boys, who were talking loudly and laughing their whole way into the kitchen.

"Aw man, no eggs?" Kurt gave a laugh, shrugging at Bobby Drake as the ice-boy stared at the empty stove. "Sorry Bobby, I guess Storm didn't feel like it today. Zere's cereal, zough!"

"And toast!" Megan piped in from the side, waving her half eaten piece like a flag.

Groaning, the brown haired teen turned around, presumably to fix him a bowl of cereal. Sam, who was beside him, instead opted for an apple. "Anyone know where Storm is, anyway?"

Kitty, sliding into a seat next to Megan, shrugged. "Probably with the Professor. I think they have a visitor."

"...Who?"

"That's what Scott and I are wondering," Folding her arms across her chest, Jean Grey glance over the gathered students, before frowning. "We saw some sort of government type vehicle pull up earlier this morning."

"Ah great, just what we need." Kurt frowned, glancing at Rogue as she spoke. "Maybe it is just an interview from someone? Zey we're interviewing the founder of Friends of Humanity, maybe zey feel ze need to interview za Professor, too, since he is so well known?"

Rogue spat from next to him, rolling her eyes. "As if they'd give us that much of a chance."

"Could be S.H.E.I.L.D." All eyes shifted to Ray, who shrugged from his spot in the corner with his bowl of cereal.

"What would S.H.E.I.L.D want with the Professor And Storm?" Ray blinked, before shrugging again at Scott.

"Well, Wolverine is gone on one of his 'trips' again... Maybe he got into some trouble?"

"Let's... hope not."

It was a possibility though, one that worried the children. Wolverine was a tough teacher but, the students did all care for him. (Except for the newest recruits but, he had been gone since Megan and Danielle had joined so, they had yet to get to know him.) And, with Hank gone researching a new mutant only disease in Scotland, the school needed every teacher they could get. If Wolverine as hurt...

Well, that couldn't happen. Wolverine was too strong for that.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the students, each glancing awkwardly at each other or their food. Even just the thought of losing one of their teachers had put the whole mood off. It was Jamie who, much to everyone's thanks, broke the tense air.

"...Maybe it's the President and he wants the Professor to take over..."

There was a quiet pause, before Ray burst out into laughter, soon followed by everyone else. "Good one, Jamie! We're still trying to be _accepted_ by everyone, as if they'd ask a mutant to be president!"

"It was just a thought!"

"And, a noble one at that, Jamie but, unfortunately most unlikely."

Squeaking, the pre-teen swiveled around to face the door way, "Professor!" Standing, (er, sitting), in the doorway was the headmaster of the Institue, Professor Xavier, and, flanking at the side of his wheelchair was Storm, the African weather mistress and the only teacher currently at the school. Behind the Professor stood another woman, as well, one none of the students recognized. She was a tall woman with short black hair, and, the standard S.H.E.I.L.D uniform.

(This, of course, caused a few of the students to panic. _Ray had been right!_)

"I'll be going now, Professor." Stepping back from the wheelchair bound man, the S.H.I.E.L.D agent gave the students a quick glance over, before turning around.

"Of course, Agent Johnson."

The woman frowned, before starting off. "I'll be keeping in touch."

The students watched the strange woman leave tensely. Scott was the first one to speak, like always. "Professor, who was that..?" Xavier gave a sad smile, holding up his hand and he wheeled into the kitchen. Storm followed closely behind, only separating from the man to head towards the kitchen counter, most likely aiming to grab a fruit.

"Daisy Johnson, a S.H.E.I.L.D agent." "She looked too young to be an agent-" "Age is not a qualification for S.H.E.I.L.D, Bobby. ...Unfortunately."

Frowning, Scott took a step forward. "Well what did she want?" "Nothing that concerns you Scott, or the others." That was Storm, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere next to Scott. Or at least, to Scott, it had felt that way. "Have you all eaten?"

There was a tentative nod from around the kitchen with a few added mumbled 'yeah's here and there. The Professor smiled. "Good, then you should all get ready for tomorrow, in that case. School starts back again tomorrow, in case any of you have forgotten." A collective groan was heard from around the room. "And I expect everyone but Jean and Scott to be ready for it."

The two in question, had graduated from high school last year. This year they were going to try to get into some colleges though, that would be harder then it sounded. Most colleges weren't just yet ready to accept mutants into their campus.

"So, get your backpacks packed, clothes out, and then suit up for a training session led by Scott." The man turned to wheel himself out, before blinking and speaking once more.

"Oh, except for Kurt, Bobby, Ray, and Amara. You four have a recruiting mission to go on, Storm will take you there."

- break – break -

It didn't take the students to clear out of the room very long after Professor Xavier left. Most were going to get ready for the training session but, the four selected by Xavier, were instead all heading back to their rooms to get dressed and prepped for their recruiting mission. They had an occasional few of these now and then but, it was getting harder and harder for the X-Men to really leave Bayville without any problems, now. Most everyone knew about Xavier's by now, and, it had been outed as a "special school for mutants" quite some time ago. If rumor got around that some poor kid was being visited by students from Xavier's... Well, they'd be outed as a mutant indefinitely.

It was easier to recruit mutants without the Brotherhood breathing down their backs and trying to recruit the same mutants, though. Ever since Mystique was left in Egypt nearly four months ago, the Brotherhood gang had been left on their own once again. They were doing well, though. Just trying to survive, really. A few of the new students felt sorry for them. Professor had invited them to join them at the institute but, they had declined. It was too bad.

But, not that bad.

"Alright, are ve all ready?"

Gathered around the Blackbird, Amara, Bobby, and Ray gave simultaneous nods. The three were all suited up in the standard 'New Mutant' uniform. Only a few students had their own special uniform, mainly, those who designed and made their own. The original X-Men, Tabitha, an Megan being those select few. Amara had declared she'd design uniforms for everyone else but, well.. She was still working on it.

Now, Kurt, as the only official X-Men member, was the designated leader of the mission. Storm was just there to drive them and answer any questions from parents, really. The students had to convince the new young mutant all on their own.

"Gut! Zen, let's hurry, ve want to be back home before dinner." Grinning, the blue German gestured towards the opened hatch of the Blackbird, Storm following behind him. Bobby gave a glance towards Amara and Ray, before shrugging in and rushing after the two X-Men.

"Hey, that reminds me, what _is _for dinner?"

"Kitty is cooking!"

"...Maybe we should just skip dinner." Finding her seat, Amara made a face, Ray plopping down in the seat next to her. He gave a nod, wincing. "Yeah, I don't think any of our stomachs can handle anymore catfood."

"Kitty's cooking can not be that bad."

"...You're right, Ororo. It's _worse_."

"Ray!" Huffing at the three snickers from the other students, Ororo rolled her eyes before closing the Blackbird hatch and starting the plane up.

Their destination was only four hours away, Oregon, but, with the Blackbird's increased speed, Ororo was hoping it would only take three hours, or two, if she was lucky. Because, well, as much as she loved her students, she doubted she'd be able to handle four hours in a confined space, such as a plane. The sound of a zap of electricity, followed by shrieks from Bobby and Amara and laughs from Kurt and Ray, only cemented this sentiment.

"Ray! What was the rule about abilities in the Blackbird?"

"No mutant abilities unless being attacked or tormenting Bobby?"

"_Ray_."

- break – break -

Lorna Dane was not having a good day. Not. At. All. First of all, she had woken up sweaty, the AC in her room having broken during the night again. Secondly, she had ran out of hair dye last night and couldn't find anymore in her house_ anywhere. _That meant, unfortunately, that her roots would be showing today and, well, the girl wasn't really comfortable about showing off how she had natural _green_ hair to everyone. So, she had to wear a hat. Which meant hat hair.

And, on top of that, she was also having the problem of things _sticking to her_. Not just anything, though, but metal things. Like she was a freaking magnet. They'd fly off walls and everything to attach themselves to her. It was freaky- and unnatural. Lorna was starting to get scared she was a mutant, which, would just be perfect. She was already strange enough.

Currently though, she was far away from all these troubling thoughts, or, at least, trying to be. She was at the mall, chatting with her friends and window shopping. She was being careful to avoid getting metal, too, because she was a smart girl and wasn't going to risk a potential problem with this new-found magnetism around her friends.

Of course, all this careful planning and avoiding went down the drain, however, when some _freak_ started to harass her best friend. Said freak was covered in piercings and pieces of metal, chains, studded collars and belts, etc, and, Lorna had no idea that her freaky magnetism would have been able to do _that_.

"Screw off, Devon! I already told you once, I'm not interested."

"Oh come on babe, you know that's not true-"

Hissing, Lorna rolled her eyes at the studded freak, stepping forward in between him and her best friend, Maureen. "Look, tall dark and ugly, Maureen already told you to scram." The punk snarled, stepping forward to grab at Lorna's shoulder, and, with a shriek, the girl flung her hand forward, pulling her wrist back in a 'stop' motion.

"We said _scram!_" And just like that, with a flick of her wrist, the teen went flying back, all the metal bits ripping themselves off the boy as he flew and, flying towards Lorna herself. They all connected to her open palm with a soft 'thump' and, Lorna could only watch in a daze as both the punk, _and Maureen_, ran off shrieking.

_Oh no. No no no nooo._

Stumbling back, the green eyed teen gave a panicked glance around the mall, before she took off running herself. The wide-eyed mall patrons scrambled back as she ran by, a few only shaking to their senses after the girl had vanished through the mall's doors.

"Mutant!"

Lorna could hear their angry screams from behind her and that was all the motivation she needed to keep running. Running and running until she found a safe place- well, as safe as behind a gas station could be but, it was good enough for now. Goo enough to hide her and-

Oh _God,_ she just couldn't be a mutant, she couldn't. She had perfect grades, she went to a private school, she had great friend, perfect parents! She had the _perfect_ life! This was going to ruin it all!Everything!

Stifling a sob, the green haired mutant sunk down onto the dirty ground. Her eyes were burning with tears and, through her choked sniffles and sobs, the girl turned to her right palm, which was still embedded with the piercings and chains from the punk at the mall. He had deserved what he got but, but she hadn't. Lorna didn't deserve any of this. Finally letting a sob out, the girl began to dig at the metal bits, desperately trying to pull them off of her.

Maybe, maybe if she could get this metal out and feign ignorance then no one would realize it was her and everything could go back to normal. She could dye her hair, maybe black, and then no one would know the girl at the mall had been Lorna, except Maureen of course but, she was her best friend, was suppose to be her best friend at least. She wouldn't tell and then, yeah, yeah everything would be perfect-

"Lorna? Lorna Dane?"

Squeaking, the girl quickly glanced up, finally noticing a new arrival to her hideaway. It was a woman, a pretty woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a pretty blue shirt, too, though Lorna thought it maybe exposed a bit too much of cleavage then what was appropriate...

"Y-yeah?"

The woman smiled, leaning down. "I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the mall."

"W-what! I didn't mean to-"

"Oh I know, darling. It's hard, when they first develop."

"...Who are you?"

"Emma Frost, and, Lorna, I'm a mutant too, just like you."

- break – break -

They had landed the Blackbird just outside the sleepy town of Withered, Oregon, and from then had walked the rest of the way to their potential recruit's house. All together it had taken about three and a half hours which Kurt figured was pretty good time. Ororo had seemed pretty convinced they could of gotten there faster but, then again, she seemed like she was just in a general hurry. Bobby was in a hurry too, though, which had been kind of annoying but, really, it didn't matter now.

Because they had finally found Lorna Dane's house. The house of a, hopefully, future student at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Shushing the new mutants, Kurt gave a nervous glance towards Ororo before drawing in a deep breath. She gave him an encouraging nod, so, with a shaky smile, the blue mutant began to speak. "Alright guys, no one mention anything zat may scare her, alright? Ze Professor said her mutation is magnetism so, definitely don't mention anyzing about Magneto or compare zeir powers, because, _Gott_ zat would be-"

"Kurt."

Giving a sheepish laugh, the boy rubbed at the back of his head, nodding at Ororo. "Right! Anyvay, ve're going by our actual names for zis, so, no codenames. No Nightcrawler, Storm, Magma, Iceman, or Bezerker, ja?"

The three new mutants nodded, and, with one last glance at his image inducer, (had to make sure he looked normal- human), the German teen turned to knock on the door.

Their knock was answered a minute or two later, and, Kurt gave a bright smile, extending his hand to the woman who opened the door. "O-oh! Good afternoon, ma'am, ve're from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and-"

"You're looking for Lorna, right?"

Grinning sheepishly, the boy nodded.

"Are you another mutant academy, too?"

"Ah, j- vhat?" Blinking, the teen cocked his head, staring at the woman.

"Another mutant academy? There's another woman here, she's from a special school for mutant children. It sounds wonderful, really. Where did you say you were from again? You may be from the same school..."

"There's more of us?" Bobby, from behind Kurt, was trying his best to peer into the house, Amara and Ray trying the same, as well, though they were much more subtle.

"Unusual..." Amara nodded to Storm's comment, before turning back around to the house.

"Ah- v-ve're from Xavier's School, ma'am..." The woman frowned, brows furrowing together for a moment. She moved to speak but, stopped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. A woman had stepped up behind her, a woman who Kurt could only surmise was Emma Frost.

"Thank you for inviting me in. Miss Dane. You have a wonderful daughter." The older woman, Miss Dane, beamed, before nodding. "Thank you Miss Frost, for your invitation to your school for Lorna." The blonde smiled, before stepping past Miss Dane and exiting the house. She glanced at the X-Men out of the corner of her eye, smirking, before walking past and to a car parked in the driveway.

The X-Men watched her drive off with mixed feelings.

Miss Dane watched the woman drive off as well, before smiling and opening the door to her house. "Well, if you would still like to speak with Lorna, she's in the den."

"R-right. Dan- Thank you, Miss Dane."

Stepping into the house, the X-Men awkwardly shuffled towards the den, leaving behind Storm to speak to Lorna's mother. Kurt was the first to enter the room, as the leader of the little group, followed by Amara and then Bobby and Ray. Amara was the first one to speak, though.

"Lorna, right?" The green eyed girl was situated on the couch, staring intently at her right palm. Kurt could see the glint of metal from where he was standing but, he could swear it had just been the lighting. Maybe.

"What?"

She didn't even glance up. Amara continued to speak, though, inching over closer and closer to the couch with every word she spoke. "Uhm... we're from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and, our Professor would really like you to join us there. We're all uh... mutants and the teachers there are mutants too-"

"I'm not interested."

"V-vhat? You're joking, right?" Deciding to finally speak up at that point, Kurt rushed over to the couch, where Amara was now standing. From behind him, Bobby and Ray gave each other and awkward glance, Ray backing out to find Ororo.

"No, I'm not. I'm sure there's a bunch of students at your 'school', right?"

"Only fourteen-"

"And how many teachers?"

From beside him, Amara frowned. "Two right now, b-but usually four!"

"Yeah. Not interested." Snorting, the green eyed girl shoved herself off the couch, standing up to face the X-Men. "Look, Miss Frost made me realize these.. powers aren't a bad thing, alright? She said I have potential, potential to be _anything, _I just need one on one teaching. I'm obviously not going to get that at school so, sorry, not interested."

Fluffing her hair, the girl turned to leave the room but, not before pulling off the knit hat on her head and dropping it to the ground. The last thing the X-Men kids saw of her, before she rushed off, was Lorna's strange green roots.

"..."

"Well, that could of gone better."

"You think, Bobby?"

- break – break -

The four students, and Storm, were in a sour mood. Their recruiting mission had gone less then stellar. Sure, they had been turned down before but, never in favor of another mutant school. At least, not since Mystique's brotherhood had been around. The realization that there were other schools out there, more "_prestigious_" mutants schools was alarming, and upsetting, to the four students.

Storm found the thought of more schools for mutants somewhat uplifting but, it still stung to be turned down like that.

As the Blackbird pulled into the landing cavern, Bobby, took it upon himself to cheer everyone up. "Look guys, we didn't want her anyway. She sounded kind of bitchy!" He grinned, before smirking and cocking his head, elbowing Ray in the side as he spoke. "And Miss Emma Frost? Total Ice Queen! They can have each other. We're too cool for them."

He encased his hands in ice when he said the word 'cool' for emphasis.

Or maybe to show off.

Kurt snorted as the five mutants exited the Blackbird, nodding along. "Ja! Totally! Zey we're a bit too _cold_ for mein tastes!"

"Argh, can't you two just shut up?"

"You're telling me, Ray."

"Aw! Come on Amara, you know you love me!"

Rolling her eyes, the Brazilian girl shoved open the door to the main room, blinking as she was greeted with three Jamies and some sort of... party going on. "Hey guys! Guess what? Jubilee's back!"

"What?" From behind them all, Bobby shoved forward, intent on finding his old friend. Jubilee had been pulled from the school when mutants had been revealed to the public so, everyone was surprised, (but not ungrateful), that she would be back. "Where is she?"

The Jamies grinned, before motioning at Bobby. "Follow me!"

Amara soon followed after the boys, as well, leaving Ray and Kurt alone, Storm having left to talk to Professor Xavier as soon as they arrived home.

"Kurt! Ray! You guys are back!"

"Kitty! What's going on?" Excusing himself from the two, Ray took off to talk to Danielle, who seemed as awkward as he felt at the moment, by herself in the corner.

Smiling, Kitty made her way over to Kurt, glancing around as he turned off his image inducer. "A welcome back party for Jubilee! So like, where's the new recruit?"

"O-oh... Not here. She, uh, turned us down."

"What, really? Why?"

"Zere's uh.. zere's a new school for mutants."

"What?"

- break – break -

As one mutant explained to another about his night, another, far away, was on the move. On the hunt. He had orders, orders he had to obey, and quick.

And, even further away from this mutant, lived another young mutant. A young mutant who had decided to turn in for the night. She had no idea if it was dark or not, she never did but, she was tired enough to decide it was time to sleep. She never did like sleeping, it always brought along bad dreams and thoughts of the future, things she couldn't stop. She was grateful to have her own bedroom though, not all the other children at the orphanage were as lucky as she was.

"Ruth Aldine?"

Blinking, the little girl sat up, white blindfold falling from her eyes as she did so. Pockets of skin stared out from where the girl's eyes were suppose to be, and, if this intimidated her room's intruder, the pre-teen didn't know.

"Yes?"

"Raven Darkholme, we need to talk."

"Yes, thank you, I know."


End file.
